Shadowed Keep on the Borderlands

A Pathfinder Roleplaying Game compatible adventure for 1st-level PCs by Creighton Broadhurst

A ruined monument to folly and ego, the Shadowed Keep stands atop an isolated bluff deep in a mist-wreathed forest. Sacked by marauding goblins decades ago the place was thought abandoned, but shadows now creep among the forest's great boles and footprints have appeared on the single, overgrown track leading to the keep. Travellers have begun to disappear with alarming regularity from the nearby road and the local folk fear some slumbering evil has claimed the ruin as its own.

Dare you brave the terrors of the Shadowed Keep to crush that which lurks within or will darkness shroud the surrounding lands?

Designed to be easily inserted into a GM's home campaign, Shadowed Keep on the Borderlands is an excellent starting locale to test the mettle of neophyte adventurers.

Shadowed Keep on the Borderlands is designed for the medium advancement track. 1st-level PCs completing all the challenges of the place can expect to reach 3rd-level by the time they have exhausted all the keep has to offer.

This product is a Dual Format PDF. The downloadable ZIP file contains two versions, one optimised for printing and use on a normal computer and one optimised for use on a mobile device such as an iPad.

This product also contains a separate file containing the product’s compiled stat blocks enabling the busy GM to build up a handy library of ready-to-go stat blocks.

“If you’re like me, then you are a sucker for old school on-the-frontier dungeon crawls. Shadowed Keep on the Borderlands is more than an homage to those days of yore. It plays and expands on the theme with intriguing characters, compelling stories, and cunning encounters. There is such a wealth of adventure packed into this ruined little keep that it will keep your players engaged session after session, and keep them coming back for more. So make a run for the junk food and pop, come up with pithy character hooks, don’t forget to buy a 10-foot pool, and always keep your wits about you. It’s that kind of adventure and more.”

—Stephen Radney MacFarland

“...it is all about the details in this particular adventure - the whole adventure makes for such an immensely detailed place, the foes and their tactics are so detailed that actually RUNNING the adventure is a blast, especially with all the things to show your players. Even better, the module provides quite a challenge... we had a surprisingly awesome time while clearing out the keep...I'll settle for a final verdict of 5 stars for this very old-school module.”

--Endzeitgeist

“Shadowed Keep on the Borderlands is an excellent location-based adventure; not only in design but also in flavour and layout.Every single room within the keep is extensively described and detailed, making the GM’s job much easier, and the flavour of which change or grow as the PCs get deeper and deeper into the adventure, which avoids the feeling of repetitious or mundane. Don’t expect the same old thing when you enter a new room, because you will possibly be very surprised at what you find.””

—Aaron T. Huss (Roleplayer’s Chronicle)

“If you're looking for a new module to kick off a 1st level PFRPG campaign, definitely check out Shadowed Keep on the Borderland from Creighton Broadhurst and Raging Swan Press. It has a little bit of everything and an open feel that gives your players room to explore at their pace.”

—Brian Fitzpatrick (Game Knight Reviews)

“Following the background is a footnote suggesting how a GM might incorporated the Shadowed Keep into their own campaign, among which is put forth what is probably my favourite part of the module's potential: once the party has cleared the keep, they might endeavour to claim and rebuild it themselves. Given the thorough detail and flavour of the environs throughout the module itself, I love this prospective aspect and feel that it could serve as the foundation for a campaign in and of itself.”

This is a fantastic, engaging low-level adventure from Raging Swan. I usually find low-level adventures to be tedious at best, but Raging Swan has made a challenging, interesting adventure with memorable characters and settings. Well done. [...]

Billed as a 1st-level adventure and suitable for starting off your campaign, this is almost a mini-campaign in its own right with the added advantage of providing a place suitable for the party to use as a base if they fancy doing so. There's a lot pac [...]

One of the things that I really appreciate about Raging Swan is the ease of running their modules and adventures. The format of their books makes it very easy to keep track of the NPCs, who's doing what and to whom and the flow of the events is very [...]

If you are wondering if this module is worth the price the answer is yes. HOWEVER i strongly suggest getting the printed version as the minute I got the PDF I wanted the feel of the hardcopy. Pros: Well organized, logically sectioned off into pl [...]

When I first read the title for "Shadowed Keep on the Borderlands" my first impression was that it was nothing more than a cheap rip-off of a classic Basic D&D module. But after reading all the great reviews of it posted on here, I decide [...]

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